


Jiaozi 餃子

by SpacePancake



Category: Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Not really a ship fic, glenn is an attention whore but we been know, henry just wants everyone to be happy, i'm actually just using this to talk about how cool dumplings are, it's more like I decided to use this ship as a background for nick angst, nick is an angsty boi, probably ooc bc they're my characters now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpacePancake/pseuds/SpacePancake
Summary: Nick Close is pretty sure that vegans are an infection. Things were great when it was just him and his dad, but now Glenn wants to spend more time with the Oak-Garcias and it's ruining everything.(or: the server mentioned the concept of glenn/henry as a joke but then we went crazy over how badly Nick would react to it)
Relationships: Glenn Close & Nick Close, Glenn Close/Henry Oak, henry oak & nick close
Comments: 21
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Have to give a shoutout to @meiwks on tumblr/ao3 who was the true backbone of developing this concept. I hope you enjoy, bro. I promise things are more fun after this first short little set-up chapter. I love you! Mwah!!

It’s getting late and Nick is bored. TJ and Grant left the house with their parents hours ago now, and the twins are off in their own little world as always. His phone is running low on battery because he didn’t think he’d need a charger for a small group dinner. Lo and behold, they’ve been here for way longer than his dad said they would be and he’s suffering for it. He’s glad, at least, that he opted for wearing a loose t-shirt under his jacket instead of his binder today, because it’s been so long, Nick figures that by now he would’ve been dying if he had it on.

He’s still at the dining table, but the adults have long-since moved themselves to the couch in the adjoining living room. There’s three seats, but they’re all bundled up onto one sofa and laughing together over some wine. The house is warm, but there’s a draft coming in on Nick from a window that nobody bothered to close. 

“It’s getting late.” Henry’s voice cuts through the blanket of sound that he’s been tuning out. Nick perks up. “We have a spare room with a double bed if you and Nick want to spend the night.”

His dad looks over at him for the first time in hours like he’s asking permission. He seems tired enough that Nick shrugs in response without thinking about it. He looks back to Henry and nods. “Sounds god, man.”

Nick sighs and resigns himself to the fact he’ll be staying overnight in a house that smells too much like essential oils for comfort.

“Fatherrrrr.” Says both of the twins at once. They’re standing in front of the couch over in the living room, which is weird because Nick  _ swears  _ they went upstairs just two minutes ago.

Lark continues talking without his brother. “If the Closes are to stay here tonight, mayhaps me and Sparrow can share one of our beds so Nicholas may have his own?”

Henry smiles wide enough that it’s annoying. “That’s very kind of you boys to offer, but it's up to Nick to decide.”

Everyone’s looking at him now. The twins smiles are too innocent looking to be anything but, and the adults are all waiting patiently for his answer. In truth, Nick would rather stick with his dad, but saying that  _ now  _ seems pretty lame. So he shrugs once again and gives them a simple, “Sure.”

The twins are by his side in an instant and grab a wrist each before Nick is being yanked towards the stairs. The Oak-Garcias laugh a little from their places on the sofa and Mercedes calls out what Nick thinks is “play nice!”

It’s a struggle to avoid the clutter on the steps as he’s pulled along. At first he thinks it's just the boys’ toys and such, but he catches sight of a few books and a sewing box that he knows the twins would have no interest in. At least everyone in this family is as messy as he and his dad are. He nearly went into shock the first time he visited TJ’s house and found out what ‘clean’ looks like. Nick likes mess better, it’s easier to keep and makes a house feel more lived in. How is anyone supposed to discern your personality if your trash isn’t scattered about the house to tell them exactly the kind of person you are? 

The twins’ room is no exception. There’s clothes and half-finished drawings on loose paper scattered all across the room. Nick counts five badly-hidden knives before he stops trying to look for them. The only tidy part of the room is the carefully made covers of the two bunk beds, the twins’ stuffed animals laid out in neat rows along the sides. He figures the bottom bunk is Lark’s when he recognises the stuffed alligator Nick himself had given him as a gift one year that the younger kid had affectionately named ‘Bastard’ pretty quickly.

The twins both sit themselves on their own respective beds and Nick is left standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. He kicks his feet against the fluffy pink rug beneath him. “So… which bed am I taking?”

“Oh!” Sparrow exclaims with a grin. “Neither bed is your’s!”

“You shall sleep on the floor!” Lark continues. “Like a dog!”

“A cute dog! Or a wolf, mayhaps?”

Lark shakes his head. “He  _ isn’t _ a wolf.”

Sparrow nods solemnly. “No, I suppose not… a jack russell?”

“Either way, we tricked you!” Lark throws a grin at him, and there’s a certain glint in his eye that makes it slightly less endearing than Sparrow’s.

“Yes! We got you good!”

“We goofed you hard!”

“Right.” Nick says at last. He isn’t bothered to humour them in the way they’re expecting him to, and simply lays himself on the floor across the carpet. He closes his eyes for extra effect.

There’s a moment of silence, and then comes the tell-tale signs of the twins scrambling towards him. Nick can feel them beside him, but waits a good while before he opens his eyes again. The two boys are kneeling either side of him and peering down at him with equally wide eyes.

“We were just goofing again.” Sparrow says. 

Lark nods. “You can have my bed, it’s like a cave.”

Lark’s bed really  _ is _ like a cave, it turns out. There’s a small black curtain that closes around the bunk to make it its own little room. Before the twins trap him in, Lark grabs a hold of Bastard the Alligator with his teeth and turns on a set of bright LED lights so Nick isn’t left in the dark once the curtains close. Sparrow gives him a quick hug and Lark temporarily releases Bastard from his toothed prison so that the Alligator can give him a little forehead kiss. It’s cute, but Nick is tired and is glad when the twins leave him be. 

They talk amongst themselves on the top bunk, and Nick doesn’t think they’ll be going to bed for a while yet. It’s fine though, he can tune them out easily enough. 

He carefully takes off his leather jacket and leaves it at the bottom of the bed. It’s too big for him because his dad bought it for himself and gave it to Nick when he realised it didn’t fit. It was a thoughtless gift, but Nick treasures it as much as he would have if Glenn had handcrafted it himself. The twins had offered him a spare t-shirt to wear a few moments before, because they figured he was small enough to fit their clothes (he’s taller than them, the dickheads), but he refused. He wants to leave as soon as it’s morning, changing clothes can wait until he’s back home.

The inner side of the black curtains around the bed have been scribbled all over in white marker. There’s the doodler himself, in all its awful glory, and a few less-eldritch drawings. There’s one of the Oak-Garcia family in the upper right corner, and further below it is a portrait of their friend group. He figures Sparrow drew this one, because it looks substantially better than all the rest. There’s a few lines scattered around the place that could be anything from mindless scribbling to dark magic sigils to both, and Nick doesn’t want to think too hard about which it is. He finds his eyes drawn to the doodle of their friend group again and his fingers linger over his own face. Even in stickman form, his smile looks fake. He looks uncomfortable to be there. He’s off to the side, like he usually is in real life. TJ and Grant have each other, Lark and Sparrow have each other, and he’s shown up uninvited. Fucking poser.

Nick quickly fumbles for the switch and turns off the lights.

* * *

Nick’s woken up by a sudden weight on his chest. He gasps loud and opens his eyes. He tries his best to sit up, but quickly realises its a futile effort as Lark is perched on his chest like his avian namesake. He turns his head to the side just in time for Sparrow to poke his nose. Nick figures he was aiming for his cheek. Sparrow pokes him again.

Nick sighs. “Hey.”

“Father said to see if you were awake.” Lark explains, tapping the fingers of one arm against the other like he’s playing piano.

“I wasn’t.”

Sparrow grins. “You are  _ now.” _

Nick nods. “Guess you’re right. I’ll be down in a sec if I can get some space for a bit.”

The twins look to each other like they’re telepathically communicating, Nick half-suspects they are, before looking back to him simultaneously.  _ Freaky. _

“We will leave you for exactly  _ two  _ minutes, Friend Nicholas.” Sparrow decides.

Lark nods curtly. “If you do not join us by then, we shall return and will bring with us a reckoning.”

“Or breakfast.”

Lark nods again at his brother’s words. “Or breakfast. We shall see. I recommend that you do not risk it.”

They’re off him as quickly as they came, and the sound of running down the stairs is so short that Nick assumes they’re going down three steps at a time. He takes a few minutes to wake himself up properly before he ties his hair up with the bobbin previously around his wrist and throws on his jacket.

Everyone’s in the kitchen when he heads downstairs. Mercedes and Henry are grossly too-close together by the counter while his dad is sitting on a bar stool, listening to the twins babble away about something from their seats atop the kitchen’s island.

And his dad is wearing the world’s worst shirt. 

It’s pastel green with white floral print and is too big to fit him right. It looks  _ ridiculous _ and is absolutely not what he was wearing last night. He notices Nick approaching and drags his attention away from the twins to focus on him.

“What do you think?” His dad asks, holding out the loose fabric of his shirt in Nick’s direction. He’s smiling in that easy sort of way that lets Nick know he’s inviting him into a joke.

Nick accepts. “You look like a nerd.”

He looks satisfied at the answer. “See, Henry? What did I tell you? Nerd shirt.”

Mercedes laughs and turns around just a little. “Well  _ I  _ think you look quite fetching, Glenn.”

Nick frowns as his dad laughs with her, and looks to Henry. He’s laughing too. This wasn’t a ‘Nick and Glenn ribbing at the other lame dads together’ moment, it was a joke that had already happened that Nick had missed and was taking part in late. He felt a little like the kid sitting at the adult table for the first time, not actually part of the group and there more for the novelty of it than out of any sort of respect.

Mercedes turns around with two mugs in hand and Henry is following close behind her with the same. He places a mug in front of both Nick and his dad before taking a mug for himself from his wife. Nick never  _ asked  _ for tea, but by the way his dad takes his mug without much delay, he figures he had accepted the offer for the both of them.

Nick watches as his dad takes a cautious sip from his mug before he stares at the liquid inside for a minute like he’s trying to figure something out. Happy with  _ some  _ sort of conclusion, he continues drinking.

Nick looks at his own mug and takes a swig. He regrets it almost immediately. He already doesn’t like tea much, but this is  _ herbal  _ tea and it’s the worst thing he’s ever tasted. He considers spitting it back into the cup, but that feels rude enough that he forces himself to swallow the hell drink instead. He subtly sets the cup back down on the island and doesn’t take a seat.

“We have more than enough oatmeal if you boys want some breakfast,” Mercedes tells them, “some banana bread, maybe?”

He and his dad share a look and Nick  _ knows  _ they’re on the same brainwave again because the look is enough to confirm they absolutely do not want to get stuck eating whatever awful food the Oak-Garcias plan to throw their way.

“I think we’re good.” His dad says. “We should head.”

Henry nods. “It was good to have you both over. We’ll have your shirt washed for you next time you pop over, Glenn.”

His dad smiles. “I actually do know how to get wine stains out, you know. I have a  _ fountain  _ of hidden knowledge that you would not  _ believe. _ ”

“I don’t disbelieve  _ that,”  _ Henry says, “but I’m not so sure I trust you to actually go through with washing the dang thing.”

His dad laughs a little and grabs his jacket from where it hung on the back on his chair. “Fair. Don’t expect me to wash your’s though, dude. Things gonna stank  _ hard  _ with weed once you get this bad boy back.”

Henry smiles as his dad gets to his feet and throws on his jacket. “Wouldn’t expect any less.”

There’s a moment where Henry and his dad are caught looking at each other and saying  _ nothing  _ and Nick feels completely out of place watching the two of them. Eventually his dad breaks his gaze and the moment disassembles before Nick can truly figure out what  _ it _ was.

They end up stopping at a diner for breakfast before heading home. They’re waiting for their food to arrive and Nick’s left staring out the window, his phone having fully died sometime on its own during the night.

“Do you like them?” His dad asks.

Nick doesn’t fully catch his question. He spins his head to face him and raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“The Oak-Garcias – do you like them?”

Nick shrugs. “They’re okay, I guess. Super lame.”

“Totally.” He agrees with a slow nod, before fiddling with one of the many rings on his fingers. “But they’re like, cool enough for a bunch of narcs, right?”

Nick isn’t quite sure what he’s expected to say, but agrees regardless. “Sure.”

His dad smiles a little brighter, and Nick has the weird feeling that he's agreed to something bigger than what he thought it was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: nothing nsfw happens but things get a little... heated? in this chapter? and someone thinks something that IMPLIES nsfw stuff just slightly. i’m just saying they’re horny ig so rip if that’s not for you

Movie night takes forever to arrive. They have it every Saturday but it always feels like it’s been longer. It’s here now though, and Nick smiles as he hears the keys jangle in the door. When his dad walks into the sitting room, Nick quickly readjusts the way he’s sitting to make it look as much as possible like he wasn’t waiting for him to come home before he looks up at him. 

“‘sup, pops.” Nick says.

His dad flashes him a quick smile and pauses beside the couch. “Hey, kid.”

“What did you want to watch tonight?”

He looks like he’s thinking hard on it for a minute before he speaks. “ _ Right.  _ Right. Wanted to fly something by you.”

He moves past the couch into the kitchen and Nick hops up to follow after him. His dad sets down a bag of groceries on the counter before looking to Nick again. “Henry invited us to his place to watch a movie with him and his boys, you up for it?”

_ No _ . He’s absolutely  _ not _ up for it. Movie night is for him and his dad, no one else. They had cancelled it a few times before, sure, but no one could  _ share  _ it with them. Not Nick’s friends, not his aunt, and  _ especially  _ not Henry  _ fucking _ Oak.

But his dad’s looking at him almost expectantly. Like he’s already decided this is something he wants to do and is just looking for his approval. Nick thinks that maybe things would be a lot easier if the both of them stopped looking for each other’s approval in everything they did so much.

He doesn’t want to have a movie night with the Oaks, but he finds himself saying, “sure”, instead.

* * *

Movie night is awful. They watch an ‘age-appropriate’ movie because Henry Oak is a fucking dick and despite Nick actively hating the movie, he is the  _ only  _ one watching it. He is watching these shitty high-pitched animated characters and planning their fucking  _ murder,  _ they’re so fucking annoying. He’s going to die.

Lark has climbed onto the back of the couch behind Henry’s head and Sparrow has somehow made his way onto  _ Glenn’s  _ lap. He’s sitting cross-legged and babbling about something that Nick could not give two shits about but Glenn seems to find super investing. He heard mention of the doodler, but can hardly concentrate on the words when he’s concentrating harder on trying to  _ not  _ hear them. He tries his best to focus on how shitty the movie is instead of how invested his dad is in whatever the fuck kind of cryptid shit the Oak twins are spouting now.

Does his dad ever look at  _ him  _ like that? Does he give half the fucks about Nick that he does Sparrow? What the fuck?

They’re all sitting on the one couch but Nick, who opted for sitting in the armchair to the side. The movie still isn’t interesting. The popcorn tastes stale and it doesn’t have nearly enough salt. It’s an overall mediocre experience but Nick is certain it’s the worst movie night he’s ever had.

* * *

The kids disappear at some point and Glenn’s left alone with Henry. As much as he likes Lark and Sparrow, it’s nice to have a break from their constant energy. Chill out a little.

Henry looks through netflix’s menu a while before he sighs and puts the remote aside. “Is there anything  _ you’d  _ like to watch, Glenn?”

He shakes his head just a little. “Nah, man. We can just chill.”

Netflix automatically plays the trailer for some shitty romcom that Glenn isn’t interested in. He tunes it out and looks to Henry, who seems as if he’s searching Glenn for something.

“The boys like having Nick around.” Henry says eventually. “Though I’m afraid they leave him out a lot.”

Glenn shrugged. “Nick likes company, but he’s chill on his own too. He’s an independent kid.”

Henry frowns a little. “Right.”

Glenn isn’t quite sure what kind of answer Henry’s looking for, but he tries another. “I asked him if he wanted to come here tonight and he said yes, we wouldn’t have come if Nick didn’t feel cool with it.”

Henry smiles. “I just want to make sure the boys are all getting along, you know?”

“Sure.” Glenn says, and then, “I mean, they’re good kids, Henry. They’re not going to upset Nick.”

The trailer is still playing. It’s only a few seconds long and is already getting repetitive. A man on the screen says gently,  _ “Kiss me, you idiot.”  _

“You’re good with them.”

Glenn laughs, because it seems a little out of nowhere and he’s not exactly trying super hard to get along with the twins. “We’re just on the same level, I guess.”

“It’s nice to see. The boys don’t exactly get along with too many people unless they’re trying to recruit them for a - well, you know- a sort of cult thing?”

“They’re still doing that?”

Henry looks a bit sheepish. “They get reinspired every now and again.”

“Sounds like trouble.”

“Well, we’ve always managed trouble pretty well.”

Glenn nods, slowly. “Different kinds of trouble nowadays.”

Henry chuckles, Glenn doesn’t think he said anything particularly funny. “I think I’d do anything to go back to fighting monsters instead of whatever  _ this  _ is.”

Glenn’s brows furrow with confusion. “This?”

Henry’s cheeks redden a little and he looks away from him. Glenn has no idea what’s going on.

_ “Kiss me, you idiot.”  _ The TV says again as the trailer loops around.

Henry looks back, and keeps a firm hold of Glenn’s gaze. Glenn feels more than a little flushed underneath it all of a sudden. “You know, Glenn, I’ve enjoyed having you around more recently. And Nick, of course. He’s a great kid.”

Glenn nods, because Nick is the  _ best  _ kid. “Sure. It’s been cool.”

“I enjoy hanging out with all us dads as a group, of course, but I enjoy just you and me talking in a different sort of way. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Glenn doesn’t. 

“... sure?”

Henry sighs. “I think you’re a great person, Glenn. You’re funny and you have such a  _ calming aura  _ and, like I said, you’re so good with my beautiful boys.”

Glenn blinks. “Right.”

“And you’re attractive.” Henry adds.

Glenn freezes. He looks across Henry’s face for  _ some  _ kind of sign for how to take that, but Henry gives away nothing but earnest sincerity, and is looking Glenn in the eyes so hard he thinks he might melt. There’s something that flutters hard in Glenn’s chest and it feels as though the air has been ripped from his lungs.

“What?”

“I think you’re very attractive, Glenn. I’m sure you’ve heard that from a lot of people before, but I felt like it needed to be said.”

Glenn looks at Henry.  _ Really _ looks. At how soft his hair is and at the kindness behind his tired eyes and at the scruff of a beard on his chin and at the light scattering of freckles across his cheeks and at how his glasses sit slightly crooked on his face. 

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Glenn throws back with a grin, because he’s not sure  _ what  _ else to say.

Henry quickly looks slightly down, then back into Glenn’s eyes. There a lot more of Henry’s face to scan over. Glenn finds himself studying the shape of Henry’s lips a lot harder than he should be. 

The TV is still looping the short trailer.  _ “Kiss me, you idiot.” _

Glenn looks back up, and they’re stuck in each other’s gaze for too long a moment.

Henry clears his throat. “Could I -? Could I have your consent to kiss you?”

_ “What?” _

Henry backs up a little and very quickly turns so red he looks sunburnt. His arms flail around a bit. “I’m sorry. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything.”

_ “No.”  _ Glenn corrects, before rushing to make that less confusing. “I mean, yes. Yes to the kissing thing, I mean. Consent freely given or however you like it said, man.”

Henry is on him quickly. His hands cup the back of Glenn’s neck and he tilts his head sideways. They kiss slowly at first, like Henry is trying to test out the water, and then very suddenly it deepens. Henry doesn’t kiss as softly as Glenn would expect him too — and he realises he has, in fact, thought about that before. He kisses like he’s hungry — controlling and passionate and wanting for more. Glenn didn’t know he wanted this too. Or he  _ did,  _ but he simply ignored it. Here in the now, he knows how much of an idiot he apparently was, because this is fucking  _ everything.  _

Henry brushes Glenn’s hair away from him before leaning into the crook of his neck and planting a few softer kisses there. Glenn shivers involuntarily and leans his head back. His entire body is burning bright and hot like a big flashing sign telling him to keep going and to go  _ further,  _ and Glenn wants so badly to obey. The locked chest of Henry feelings in his head has been opened for him to sort through and he wants the full experience. He wants Henry to pin him down and explore each and every inch of him with those kisses.

Henry’s left hand moves a little upwards to cup Glenn’s face, and his thumb brushes against his cheek. Their bodies are pressed close together. He kisses deeply at the point where his neck meets his collarbone and Glenn lets out a small unintentional moan. He hasn’t felt like  _ this  _ for somebody in a while. Like…

This… This isn’t right.

Glenn puts a hand on Henry’s shoulder and pushes slightly. He seems to get the message and draws away from Glenn without him having to say anything. The look he gives him is tinged with worry. 

“Is this okay?” Henry asks.

Glenn shakes his head and Henry removes his hands from him, sitting himself back more before he looks at him again properly.

“That’s fine.” Henry reassures. “Can you tell me what’s not okay for you?”

“We can’t-“ Glenn says and tries desperately to find a reason for  _ why  _ he feels weird other than the strange cluster of feelings building up in his chest and grabbing a tight hold of his throat. “What about Merc, man?”

Henry looks amused. “Glenn. I’ve already talked to Mercedes about this.”

“Oh.” He says, and then, “About me?”

“Yes.”

_ “Oh.” _

Henry takes a hold of his hands and Glenn lets him. “Are you alright with this?”

“What, holding hands?”

“No, I meant more the ‘me being attracted to you’ thing.”

Glenn ignores the heavy feeling in his chest and smirks instead. “I mean, it’s hard not to be. I’m so fucking hot, it’s unreal.”

Henry laughs, but it’s contained. He’s waiting for Glenn to continue, but Glenn’s really not sure what to say. The man’s rendered words lost to him more than any songwriter’s block has ever done

“It’s just… I know this sounds fucking stupid and all so don’t try to bullshit me, but I’m just. I’m still  _ married,  _ dude. I’m not looking to replace that.”

Henry frowns, but Glenn doesn’t think it’s at what he said. He’s looking away and his eyes are slightly scrunched up and Glenn figures he’s thinking over his words hard. “It’s not  _ stupid,”  _ Henry reassures, “I think it’s beautiful, actually. 

We don’t have to do this anymore if it makes you feel uncomfortable, Glenn, but I’m not trying to  _ replace _ morgan. This doesn’t have to be that kind of thing if you don’t want it to be. This can be whatever you  _ need _ it to be. I like spending time with you no matter what form that’s in or what we call it. Whatever you feel comfortable with? I’m on board for.”

Glenn pauses. He tries to look for the right questions, but finds nothing. His brain has frozen completely over, and he struggles to find even a basic sentence. “How do you…  _ feel  _ like you’re not cheating on Mercedes? How does that like, work?”

Henry hums a little as he thinks about his answer the same way his boys do. “Well, I guess communication is the  _ most  _ important… Can- Can I explain how my version of polyamory works to you?”

“Sure.”

“Well, not everyone likes this way of thinking, I maybe don’t even fully agree with it myself, but it’s easiest for me to think of things in terms of primaries and secondaries.”

Glenn nods so that he’ll continue.

“My primary partner is Mercedes, because we have kids together and we live together and we’re married. And if I were to have any other partners, they would be my secondaries. Everyone involved in my relationships are equally important and loved to me, but I like to establish that Mercedes will usually always take priority right out of the gate.” He shakes his head. “I mean, there can be some trouble with this way of thinking,  _ of course.  _ I don’t want anyone to think they’re  _ lesser  _ to me and even the wording alone-“

“Nah, nah.” Glenn waves his hand a bit. “That’s… cool. I like that.”

“Yeah?” Henry asks. He looks excited.

Glenn smiles despite himself. “Yeah. Just a bit, yeah. But not like… I want to think over it, y’know?”

“Of course.” Henry nods. “Take as much time as you need Glenn, even if it’s to say no. I only want as much as you’re comfortable with.”

Glenn reflexively holds up the peace sign like the dumbass bisexual he is. “Sick.”

* * *

When the movie is over, the twins drag Nick up to their room again, but quickly abandons him after just a few minutes. It’s chill. He has his charger this time so he doesn’t have to worry about conserving battery power. Grant is texting him about a game that Nick isn’t particularly interested in himself, but he likes hearing Grant talk about it regardless. Friends talking about their passions is tight as hell.

The twins return after a long while, giggling. Nick is instantly on his guard and ready for whatever may be coming at him.

“What’s up?” He asks.

They turn to him at the same time and grin wide.

“Oh, nothing really!” Sparrow exclaims.

Lark picks up. “Just our dads being  _ gross.” _

Nick feels like it could be left at that, but the twins wouldn’t be giggling over  _ nothing _ , so he presses. “Gross how?”

“They were kiiiissiiiiiing~” Sparrow sing-songs.

Nick feels the blood drain from his face. “Huh?”

Larks laughs. “They thought they were alone but nay! Myself and Sparrow, masters of the shadows, were there and  _ saw  _ their grossness.”

“Mwah!” Sparrow says, like it needs further explanation.

Nick is, quite simply, in hell. It’s the only explanation. He knows his dad  _ likes  _ Henry, sure. But as a fucking… as a guy he likes hanging with  _ occasionally.  _ He’s just a shitty friend. A shitty obnoxious fake-woke vegan friend. Why the  _ fuck  _ would his dad kiss  _ Henry Oak?  _ For one, Henry just sucks so fucking much and his dad is the  _ coolest,  _ and secondly, his dad considers himself married still. What the  _ fuck  _ kind of game is Mr Oak trying to pull? Is he trying to trick his dad into replacing his mom? What the fuck?  _ What the fuck?  _

What if his dad actually likes Henry back? That’s worse. His dad  _ can’t _ like him back. He’s so  _ cool  _ and Henry’s so  _ not.  _ Nick always imagined if his dad  _ did  _ get back into dating it would be with a rockstar or a supermodel or a CEO of some big company so he could grab a bunch of money in the messy divorce. Not that he really ever thought his dad would  _ ever  _ get back into dating. His dad isn’t  _ like  _ that. 

Apparently he is.

Nick feels slightly sick.

* * *

He continues feeling sick all the way to when they’re back in the car on the way home. He’s at least thankful for the fact they weren’t sleeping over tonight, even if it means they’re heading home late.

His dad is usually quiet enough when he wants to be, but the silence is deafening now. There’s a tension between them thick enough to cut through and Nick hopes to God that his dad can’t sense it.

“Something up?” His dad asks eventually. So he  _ could  _ sense it. Fuck.

“No.” Nick says automatically. “Something up with you?”

His dad looks pointedly at the road. “Nope.”

“Cool.” 

Nick wants to say something.  _ “Hey, dude. What the fuck do you think you’re doing kissing your lamest friend and also not telling me and are you trying to replace my mom with some shitty vegan?” _

He doesn’t say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry class


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they finally make dumplings a little

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter involves an OC (who you can read about by finding the Nick and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Aunt fic on my page if you really want but these are separate universes to whatever), here’s all you need to know:  
> — del’s glenn’s older sister who pretty much didn’t speak to him for years and then randomly came back into his life  
> — she doesn’t fucking text people back  
> — she’s a private investigator   
> — she’s hot. this isn’t necessary to know for the story technically, but i think everyone should be aware of it

“Going away for how long?” Nick asks.

His dad shrugs. “Just a couple of days. Usually I wouldn’t have to go but one of the teachers that  _ should  _ be accompanying them to this stupid competition broke her leg like a fucking idiot, so.”

“That’s not any longer than you’ve been gone before.” Nick points out. There wasn’t any  _ real  _ difference between leaving for a concert and leaving to chaperone some dumb music competition for the kids he teaches.

He pulls a face that Nick can’t quite get a read on. “I  _ know  _ you can take care of yourself, Nick It’s just that... I was telling Henry about it and he, y’know, volunteered to let you stay over?”

Oh, of course.  _ Of course.  _ If something’s ever changing the comfortable norm Nick likes to live in, it’s  _ always  _ Henry fucking Oak behind it all. 

“Kinda bullshit. I don’t know, dude.” Nick replies.

“I mean, as much as I know you’re like  _ completely  _ independent and that’s super cool and all… it would be nice to know you’re with an adult or something, y’dig it?”

He does  _ not.  _ Nick doesn’t dig it whatsoever. He’s the opposite of digging it. Flying it?  _ Whatever _ . “Isn’t there like…  _ another  _ adult I can stay with?”

His dad raises an eyebrow. “Like who?”

Nick struggles to find an answer. If he chooses someone else in his friend group to stay with, his dad might ask him why he likes them and their parents better than the Oak-Garcias or something and Nick has already quickly painted himself in a corner where he can’t just say they have a project together. What other adults does he even know?

“Del.” He says before he can think it over properly.

His dad looks like he’s waiting for the punchline to come. “Del?”

“Yeah. She’s like, almost responsible and shit? But it’ll be closer to what it’s like staying at home alone, y’know? Win-win.”

He laughs a little and shrugs. “If you can somehow convince Del to let you stay with her, then  _ sure.  _ Otherwise it’s the Oak-Garcias. Just like, promise me you’ll actually stay with her, dude?”

Nick nods.

He actually  _ does  _ call his aunt beforehand, surprisingly. Del doesn’t answer, which isn’t unexpected, but he tells his dad she said it was cool anyway. He  _ also  _ tells him that she agreed to pick him up so his dad didn’t need to give him a ride — couldn’t have him talking to Del and realise she hadn’t agreed to anything at all. He believes it all, obviously. His dad has  _ way  _ too much faith in him.

To his credit, he doesn’t skip out on the promise of actually going to her house. The day his dad leaves, Nick stays home until later into the evening before grabbing a taxi to her place. It’s not an especially long way away, but it’s not a journey he could make by foot without  _ dying —  _ mostly because he would give up after about thirty minutes of walking and simply lie there to accept his fate.

He’s never actually been to her place, but it’s easy enough to find. He knows her office is a room in her apartment, and thus, her address is online given that she’s a business that people need to go to for meetings and whatever else people do in offices. The apartment block is a little manky, but not enough to harsh his vibe. The paint in the hallways is peeling and the elevator makes a few noises that make him fear for his goddamn life, but it’s fine. He makes it to her apartment in one piece.

Nick knocks on her door and takes a step back as he waits. He and his aunt aren’t exactly…  _ best friends,  _ but she’s not Henry and they have a sort of mutual understanding of each other. 

It takes a moment or two for the door to open before him — slowly and carefully. Del quickly scans him over a split second before she registers who he is and slips something back into her pocket. Nick suspects it’s a knife, and has no intention of asking why she had one out.

“ _ Oh.  _ Hey, kid.” She says simply, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame. Nick waits for her to ask why he’s here, but the question never comes.

“Hey, Del.” He returns. “Can I stay with you a few nights?”

She looks him over again. “Where’s your dad?”

“Some stupid music competition.”

She hums. “Fine. But I’d better not have an apartment stinking of fucking  _ weed  _ by the time you leave.”

He wants to point out that the place  _ already  _ stinks of cigarette smoke, but elects to not bring it up.

He raises his hands like he’s surrendering. “No weed. Got it.”

“Shove off your shoes if it’s not my office you’re looking for.” She doesn’t say anything else, just turns and walks away, leaving the door open so he can follow. He listens to her wishes and toes off his shoes before he closes the door and scurries after her to where she’s come to a stop outside one of the rooms.

“I’ll get you bedsheets later, put your stuff down and come to the kitchen. You like jiaozi?”

Nick doesn’t know what that is, but nods anyway.

She slinks off after that and he’s left alone with the room. It’s a tiny box of a thing, with no furniture bar the stripped bed, a wardrobe, and a nightstand. He puts his bag down beside the foot of the bed and heads to the window. Del lives in a more populated part of the state, and Nick finds himself momentarily mesmerised in the hundreds of lights beginning to illuminate the evening’s darkening sky. He opens the window, expecting fresh air, only to be met with something that feels just as stale as the air  _ inside _ the apartment. The cool breeze is nice at least, cold enough to wake him up a little from the haze that had begun to settle over him the last few days, but not enough to bite.

The rest of the house is a sort of organised mess. There’s no trash and clothes around like Nick’s place, but there is paper absolutely  _ everywhere.  _ Stacked in piles or laying loose across the floor. Sticky Notes are dotted around the place too, messages ranging from ‘look into this’ placed upon a folder to ‘buy more flour’ stuck to a door frame to ‘fuck everything about this’ placed atop a particularly big stack of pages. He even sees a little ‘Nick doesn’t like mushrooms in food. don’t make him anything with them again. ungrateful brat’ on the floor from where it had fallen loose from someplace. Cute.

It turns out jiaozi is the word for those funky little crescent shaped dumplings he’s had before. His dad has had them before too, but he’s never called them by  _ that  _ name. They’ve always just been ‘dumplings’.

“Do you speak chinese?” He asks.

“About as much as a kid would know.” She shrugs and continues to roll some dough into a near-perfect circle. “I don’t exactly  _ practise _ .”

Nick wishes he could speak Chinese. His dad doesn’t speak it, despite being multilingual, but Nick gave it a try once. He gave up pretty quickly though, language learning wasn’t for him.

He nods. “Where did you learn to make dumplings?”

“A book.” She sounds halfway exasperated, like she thinks its a stupid question. “Mom used to make them though.”

Nick doesn’t know much about his grandmother, but he  _ does  _ know she died when his dad was pretty young, so he doesn’t want to press Del for details. Dead moms are a weird thing to talk about, he knows from experience. 

She looks towards him. “Wash your hands, kid. I’m not doing all the work myself. Pay your rent in labour.”

He follows her instruction and quickly washes his hands in the sink, drying them off and moving to her side before she’s done filling the dumpling she was working on.

She pauses and gestures for him to come closer to the counter. “You saw what I was doing with the dough?”

“Yeah.”

“Get to work then.”

It’s a pretty simple job to roll out dough, but Nick can’t get a handle on it. Del had made it look so effortless to roll it into a neat circle, but no matter how much Nick adjusts, he can’t get it looking like anything more than a messy oval. Each time he moves the pin to fix the problem, the problem just begins the other way. Del finished filling and pressing her dumpling a while back, and now just watches his struggle wordlessly. 

She lets him continue for far too long before she sighs and speaks, “Alright, no. You’re a fucking disaster.”

“It’s  _ hard.”  _ He protests.

She takes the rolling pin from him and budges her way into the workspace. In a matter of seconds she’s corrected his mistakes and moves back to where the filling is. “Watch.”

Del silently shows him how much filling to spoon into the dumpling, before she wets the circumference with her finger and some water. She folds it carefully in half and pinches the edges closed.

She moves aside and gestures for Nick to take over her station, which he does. She’s quick to roll out the dough, and Nick has two dough circles waiting beside him before he can even reach for the spoon to fill them. 

Filling is an easier job. He’s not perfect, half of his fillings are too big or too small, and somehow the edges of his finished dumplings look worse than Del’s. But he’s managing fine. 

They work in silence. The quiet would usually bug him, he usually covers  _ that  _ shit up with loud music, but right now it’s the nice kind of quiet that feels like a heavy blanket. After too many days surrounded by the Oak-Garcias, it’s nice to finally feel some  _ peace.  _ Prepping dumplings has a sort of rhythm to it that he quickly finds himself slipping into. It’s nice to focus on  _ nothing  _ for a while.

Del works far quicker than he does and has seemingly decided she’s rolled enough circles when she fetches a second spoon and helps Nick with the filling.

“Why do you cook?” He asks at last.

She pauses her work and sends him a questioning look.

“I just mean, you could  _ buy _ all this shit. Why do you cook?”

He expects something like ‘it’s cheaper’ or ‘it tastes better than the frozen garbage you and Glenn kill yourselves with’, but instead she says, “It helps me think.”

“What are you thinking about?”

She folds her dumpling. “I have to tell my client that her husband is cheating on her tomorrow and I’m sure she’s going to cry over it. I’m not great with crying people.”

He stifles a laugh. “I’ll bet.”

She finishes pinching the dumpling closed and lays it aside, before looking to him again. She doesn’t ask it, but he knows what the question is. She’s waiting for him to tell her what he’s thinking of.

He starts filling a new dumpling before sighing and setting down the spoon. “You know Henry Oak?”

Nick knows that Del has been to a select few events with some of his dad’s friends around, but he isn’t sure if she’s ever met Henry specifically. He doesn’t seem like the type of person she’d approach, but he’s also the type to want to be on friendly terms with everybody regardless of how interested they are in him.

“ _ Ugh.”  _ He quickly looks over and Del has twisted her face up into a grimace of disgust that isn’t terribly exaggerated, but is the most visibly emotive he’s seen her in months. “The  _ vegan?” _

He grimaces back, but inside he feels a little validated. Del  _ gets  _ it, at least. Not  _ everyone _ has gone completely insane then. “Yeah,  _ him.” _

She rests her forearms on the countertop so she can bend and lean her weight on it. Her face returns to its usual neutral expression. “What about him?”

“My dad  _ kissed  _ him.”

She doesn’t react the same way to that as she did to his name drop, but she looks down at her hands for a moment. “Gross.”

“Right?!” He surprises himself with his volume and quickly turns it down a notch. “I mean, he’s  _ such  _ a narc but we’re at his house  _ all  _ the time now? We like, stay over and watch shitty movies and like- the other day we had  _ dinner  _ with them, yeah? And Henry brings out these shitty vegetables that aren’t even deep-fried and I’m like, ‘sorry, dude. but me and my dad won’t eat that stuff’ and my dad’s just like, ‘nah, man, it’s cool’? Like, what the fuck? Who the  _ fuck  _ even eats vegtables, honestly?”

“You  _ should  _ eat vegetables, kid.”

“Whatever.”

“Plus, I’ve  _ seen  _ you and your dad eat vegetables before. I’ve  _ cooked  _ you two vegetables.”

“You’re literally two steps away from being a cop, Del. You only avoid the full narc list because you’re a Close,  _ don’t _ push it.” He tries his best to glare her down to absolutely no avail. “ _ Anyway _ . That’s not the point _.” _

She nods. “No, I get it. I mean, I know I came to your place boxing day last year but if your dad’s dating the vegan dude I’m fucking avoiding you guys around  _ any _ major holiday so I don’t see him by accident.”

He allows himself to smile a little. “You know if you used your phone, you could like, check?”

“Sounds exhausting.”

He sighs. “I just… I don’t know what the fuck to do. I don’t want my dad dating anyone, let alone _him.”_

“I mean, he’s allowed to date people, Nick.”

There’s a certain kind of anger that bubbles up in his chest at that. He wants to yell ‘no’ at her and explain that actually, he’s  _ not  _ allowed. His dad dating anybody is like him saying he doesn’t care about his mom anymore. That she means so  _ little  _ to him that she can be replaced easily. Henry Oak isn’t good enough to replace his mom. No one is.

Instead, he looks away and admits quitely, “I know.”

“But Henry Oak’s still a dick.” She adds.

Nick laughs. “Yeah, he’s the fucking  _ worst.  _ You don’t even  _ know.”  _ He pauses. “I just wish I could like… show him I don’t give a fuck about him without doing something like…  _ awful?  _ Just a super tiny fuck you? And like, I could just brush it off as like, ‘oh, I didn’t know any better’! You know what I’m saying?”

Del looks around the dumpling workspace a moment before she glances at Nick and smiles just a little. “How do you feel about Russian Roulette?”


	4. Chapter 4

“So you regret staying with Del or what?” His dad asks with a joking grin, looking at Nick sideways as he pulls out onto the main road.

“It was whatever.” Nick shrugs. “She showed me how to make dumplings.” He taps the clear tupperware container sitting on his lap.

“Sick, you made those? Thought it was just her using you for some passive-aggressive shame fest of how I eat.”

“I mean, I think it’s probably both.”

“Probably.”

Nick isn’t very responsive for a lot of the car ride. He figured he had gotten over everything, but now that he’s here and his dad is acting like everything is still the same when it’s  _ not,  _ his bad mood has returned. He doesn’t want to be difficult and grumpy, he obviously doesn’t want to make things hard on his dad. But he’s just talking about his  _ trip  _ and asking about what Nick got up to and continuing a mostly one-sided conversation about  _ fuck all,  _ and Nick is maybe a little pissed. Normally he’d be enraptured by any and all words coming from his dad’s mouth, but he’s fucking avoiding the elephant in the room! They’re supposed to be  _ bros!  _ He’s supposed to be Nick’s BFFF! After Faerun they were supposed to start  _ talking  _ to each other. Properly. Get better, like everyone else already has.

Nick Close would  _ never _ call his dad a coward, but… maybe just this once he’ll allow himself to think it. 

They get stuck in bad traffic on the way home and his dad sighs. “I fucking hate this drive, coming back from Del’s is the worst… So, uh, why was it that you didn’t want to stay with Henry again? Did you and the twins have a fight or some shit?”

_ Oh, so he thinks he’s being smooth now.  _

Nick shrugs. If his dad isn’t going to be the first to say anything about what happened, neither is he. “Nah, I just didn’t feel like it, y’know? Didn't vibe with me, you get it, right?”

“Right.” His dad agrees automatically, like they both tend to do.

After that exchange, Nick turns on the radio and cranks the volume up high enough to let his dad know the conversation’s over.

When they get home, Nick places the tupperware container on the kitchen counter with a loud enough clatter that his dad spins around to see if something dropped. 

“I think,” Nick says, “That we should bring some of these to the Oak-Garcias, since they let us stay over the other night.”

His dad looks clearly relieved, but tries to cover it up by grinning widely. “Oh, fuck yeah, sure. They’re vegan?”

“Some of them.”

“Sick. Let’s divide these bad boys out so they can have the vegan ones and we can have, y’know, the  _ good _ ones. How do you tell them apart?”

“Oh,” Nick replies, “You don’t.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, Del said I should probably mark them so that I could tell people what was what afterwards, but I thought people might figure it out too early then.”

His dad frowns. “Uhhh,,, I’m not sure that I’m picking up what you’re laying down, man.”

“It’s like russian roulette.” He explains. “Gotta take a bite to  _ truly  _ know what’s inside. Like a neat surprise. The twins will love it.”

“Kid-“

“I mean, you could cut into it first too, but the extra effort is also pretty funny so it still works out.”

“ _ Nick.” _

Nick shuts his mouth and looks directly at his dad. He frowns deeper, worried looking. His fingers are drumming against the countertop. 

His dad continues. “What’s your problem with Henry, man?”

“I don’t have a problem with Henry.” Nick shoots back quickly.

“Then what  _ is  _ the problem? You’ve been  _ weird  _ lately, dude, and I don’t know what you expect me to do about it! Did I fuck up? Like, what  _ is  _ this? You’re trying to make the Oak-Garcias eat meat?”

Nick looks away. “No! I just wanted to  _ minorly  _ inconvenience him, y’know?”

“So,  _ is  _ this about Henry?”

“No.”

“Then  _ what,  _ dude? You’ve gotta tell me what the fuck is up!”

“You kissed him!” Nick blurts out before he can stop himself. “The twins told me you did, they saw you.”

“Oh…  _ oh.”  _ His dad is silent for a very long time, Nick didn’t think his dad was actually capable of keeping his mouth shut that long before then. “I didn’t know you-“

“Yeah.”

“Look, Nick…” His dad sighs and Nick finally returns his gaze to him. “That was just a once off thing, I don’t- I’m not doing anything.”

“ _ Is _ it a once off thing?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

Nick huffs and tries to remember whatever the fuck he was supposed to learn from his faerun adventure. Don’t just bottle shit up or brush it away, explain your feelings. “You should’ve told me you two had something going on.”

“Yeah, I’m… I would’ve told you if I had started dating or something but that was just this like,  _ thing,  _ and I don’t think it’s going anywhere so I didn’t want-“

“Sure.” Nick interrupts. “Do you want to  _ date _ him or something?” He tries to hold back the venom seeping into his voice and fails spectacularly.

“It’s complicated…” His dad looks down at the tiled floor, and crosses his arms. “If I did, would you hate that?”

Nick considers it for a moment. His dad wants him to say no, he knows that. Usually Nick would do whatever his dad wanted, but this is different. This would change their lives drastically, it could change their whole  _ dynamic _ . It’s just...  _ change.  _ And Nick isn’t so sure he wants that. Small things like his dad being home more is fine, that’s just like his old off-season but all year round. But this? This would  _ majorly  _ fuck with things. This would change  _ everything _ . 

Nick doesn’t want things changing that fast.

So with a certain amount of resoluteness, he says, “Yes.”

“Okay, cool,” His dad replies, “No, yeah, cool. Yeah. Alright. Then it’s a no to the dating thing.”

“Really?”

“Well yeah, dude. You come before Henry any day.”

His dad doesn’t just not date Henry, the near bi-weekly visits to the Oak-Garcia's disappear completely.

Nick feels smug at first, but he quickly figures out that his dad took the completely wrong message from what he had to say. As much as he thinks Henry is  _ lame,  _ he doesn’t want his dad to cut off one of his friends completely. 

It continues like that for a while, but his dad doesn’t acknowledge it. Movie nights return in full force, vegan food isn’t anywhere to be seen, and Nick gets to sleep in his own bed every single night. His dad acts like nothing ever happened, which Nick thinks he  _ should  _ like, but he  _ doesn’t?  _ As they settle back into normality, he realises that this isn’t what he wanted at all. 

When he sees his dad reject a call from Henry, he decides he’s fed up with this misinterpretation of his feelings. He’s kinda fucking pissed about it actually. As much as he was annoyed about having every second dinner in a house that wasn’t theirs, he didn’t actually care  _ that  _ much. It was just… the  _ dating  _ thing that was the problem. Did his dad not  _ get  _ that? 

And honestly? He’s getting pretty sick of the taste of takeout food and could do with a serving of Mercedes’ mashed potatoes again.

He wants to talk to his dad. Sit down and explain everything. ‘I think Henry’s lame and annoying but I don’t mind you being friends with him, stupid’, ‘I like hanging out with the twins, I just don’t want it to be on  _ our  _ nights together’,  _ ‘I’m scared of you dating people.’ _

Is that really it? Is he just…  _ scared  _ of his dad dating? Maybe the problem isn’t even Henry, maybe it’s just that the two of them had relied on each other for so long that the thought of his dad relying on  _ other _ people has grown into a full blown fear. Like he wouldn’t be important anymor if he isn’t the only important person in his dad’s life.

But that isn’t true. Even before dating had come into the equation, his dad had started relying on the other dads more than he did Nick. Had he ever  _ relied  _ on Nick ever? Emotions had never been a _ them  _ thing, and when they had occasionally crept into the equation, it was always about what Nick was feeling. 

And Nick hadn’t hated his dad relying on the other dads  _ then,  _ so what was the fucking problem? Unless they were moving in with the Oak-Garcias, what was the difference between his dad relying on Henry as a friend and relying on him as a boyfriend ( _ ew _ ) bar some extra gross stuff? Henry did gross things with his dad already anyway. Like the twins’ story about how all the dads stripped naked for a fight or like, eating vegan food.

Nick doesn’t know why he decides that it’s a good idea, but he just can’t get out of his head that he needs to have a talk with Henry Oak.

He arrives around seven in the evening, when he knows the twins will be at Taekwondo. They would just make things even more awkward after all. He hesitates to do it, but manages to work up the nerve to ring the doorbell. As he waits, he shifts the plastic container in his hands to a more comfortable position and taps his foot.

Fucking  _ finally  _ the door decides to open, and Henry looks more surprised to see him than Nick has ever seen anyone surprised to see anybody. They haven’t seen each other for a couple of weeks now, he supposes.

“Nicholas!” He begins.

_ Nicholas. _

“The twins aren’t actually here right-“

“Yeah.” Henry stops short when Nick interrupts, so he continues. “I know.”

“So what, um… Was there something you wanted to talk about, Nick?”

Nick doesn’t actually know what he wants to say, so he just holds out the tupperware container instead. “I made this like, thing for you and… everyone else, I guess. They’re dumplings, my aunt taught me how to make them and they’re like- they’re the only thing I really know how to cook for real, you know? Everything else is just fake cooking like microwave shit and… they’re vegan, all of them. Del says the vegans ones taste like piss compared to the meat ones but they’re okay so maybe you’ll like them, I don’t know.”

Henry looks pretty taken about by that word vomit (the swearing too probably), and gingerly takes the box from Nick. “I- thank you. That’s very-“

“Also I wanted to talk to you.”

Henry frowns, just a little. “Does your dad know you’re here?”

“No.” Nick replies quickly, and figuring that was sus as hell, he adds, “This is about him.”

That probably wasn’t the right thing to say, Henry just looks deeply and openly worried now. His mind’s probably jumping to the worst conclusions, and Nick maybe probably didn’t help prevent that.

“Why don’t you come inside and we can talk about whatever you need to, Nick.”

Things are more than a little awkward as Henry leads him to the sitting room. He offers to make tea, but Nick refuses quickly.  _ Fuck  _ tea. Baby leaf water ass shit.

“Well…” Henry tries to smile, but they both know it’s too awkward to achieve anything. “What is it you need to talk about? I know I can’t quite offer the security of a professional setting, but this is a safe space for saying whatever you need to.”

Nick has to put a lot of effort into not rolling his eyes.

“Okay,” Nick says, “So you kissed my dad and that’s super weird.”

Henry turns bright red immediately and splutters out his reply. “You know- Your dad told you about that?”

“Lark and Sparrow did.”

_ “Lark and Sparrow know about that?!” _

Nick just shrugs in response.

Henry continues, “I’m sorry for raising my voice a little there, Nick. You just took me by surprise is all… Gee whiz… You don’t really have to worry about it too much, your dad actually… well. He’s somewhat  _ ghosting  _ me, as kids say, so I don’t think-“

“He stopped talking to you because I told him to.”

He expects Henry to get a little angry, but he just looks hopelessly confused. “You told your dad not to talk to me?”

“No. I mean- I told him I knew what happened and then he asked if I’d be comfortable with you two dating and I said no and now he isn’t talking to you? So like, maybe yes?”

“ _ Oh.”  _ Henry takes a moment without saying anything else, before putting a gentle hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Nick, you didn’t do  _ anything,  _ alright? Your dad… I’m not trying to say this in a bad way, of course, but your dad… tends to avoid things when they get complicated? This is a  _ him  _ thing, not a you thing. You’re not responsible for the choices your dad makes, even if he made them  _ for  _ you.”

Nick wants to speak up and come to his dad’s defence, but ends up nodding along instead. He doesn’t actually think Henry’s insulting his dad when he  _ really  _ thinks it over. He’s just slamming down some hard truth.

“And I have to admit, because I feel pretty bad about this, you know? That I thought a lot about how Glenn would feel about things between us, and never considered that you would also have some pretty darn complex feelings that need to be taken into consideration too. I know you and your dad are your  _ own _ thing, Nick, and I’m not trying to ruin that for you. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to… take over your mom’s role or anything. Well, that’s like saying your dad is trying to replace Mercedes! That wasn’t my intention. I don’t want to push my way into the family you have right now, I just wanted to… make a bridge of sorts. To connect the two groups! And if you and your dad think that’s not compatible with what you two have going on? I’m not going to force my way into anything.”

Nick is silent for a long time as he thinks it over. To be honest, he never really thought about the fact that Mercedes is to Henry what his mom is to his dad. Clearly, he needs to think everything over some more.

He doesn’t give a proper response, just replies with, “If you ever date my dad, you’d  _ better  _ not come over on Christmas. That’s for Close boys only. No argument.

Henry laughs a little. “How about I try calling your dad again first and leave negotiations for later?” He pats the box of dumplings. “You’ve got to show me how to cook these right too.”

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a few weeks later: an epilogue

“What are we glenn?”

Henry’s looking over at him from where stands by the kitchen counter. Not expectant, just curious. 

Glenn takes a careful sip of tea before he answers. He never really liked any sort of tea before, but he’s grown on the taste over time spent at this house. 

They’ve started talking again, ever since Nick had a weird change of heart out of nowhere, but nothing much has happened since then. No talk of what they are, not even a big discussion on dating bar Glenn saying he’s open to the possibility of it again. Henry seems to be taking his desire to take things slow to its extreme, which is comfortable for now.

“I... don’t know, I guess?”

Henry smiles in a way that Glenn would have read as patronizing before Faerun. It’s easy to pick it out for what it is now though, simply genuine. An attempt at reassurance. Maybe there’s a little nugget of superiority still mixed in there, but Glenn’s pretty sure than Henry tries his best not to think that way. 

“That’s okay! Labels can be more harmful than good if you force them before you really know if they fit. Sometimes you need time to find the right one.”

“Yeah? … I just... You know how it is.”

“I do.” Henry replies, and he leaves his vegan omelette mix aside a moment so that he can cross over to where Glenn’s sitting at the island. Henry takes his hand and Glenn doesn’t pull away. It’s slightly weird, but less weird than it would’ve been a few weeks back. “We can take things as slow as you need to.”

Glenn laughs a little. “Well... Maybe not too slow.”

Because yeah, taking things slow is what he wants. For sure. This is new territory for him. But to be honest? Sometimes he wishes Henry would stop tiptoeing around him and just kiss him again.

Henry’s hand tightens around his and his eyebrows draw up in surprise. “Oh? Well, there is something you can do for me in that case.

Glenn doesn’t say anything, just raises an eyebrow in question.

Henry leans in close, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. “You can get off your lazy butt and help me make breakfast, you goof.”

As Henry turns back towards the counter, Glenn’s hand rises to meet the spot where Henry had kissed him. For a moment, his fingers simply linger there and everything feels warm and incomprehensible.

* * *

A lot of the ongoing tension Nick has twisting up his insides as they come closer to Christmas is all let go as soon as he finds out that his dad hasn’t made any plans for the holidays. Christmas remains just their thing. Shitty takeout and shittier Christmas movies is their Christmas Eve, and Christmas day is similar. Presents, homemade hot chocolate, and a good old fashioned Close boys jam-out session.

It’s never not weird to have someone else in the house on the holidays. It had been just him for so long thanks to his dad touring that actually having him around still feels like a novelty. Later into the evening on Christmas Day, his dad falls asleep halfway through The Santa Clause, and Nick… feels comforted somehow. Falling asleep on the couch on Christmas is like a normal dad thing. He’s missed out on so many normal dad things throughout the years, that every new one he witnesses feels like an important experience. His dad snores, but it’s cool. Because he’s here. With him. They’re together on Christmas and that’s all Nick has ever wanted. Just to have him here. 

He doesn’t go to bed when he starts to get tired. Instead, he tucks himself under his dad’s arm and wraps his own arms around him as much as he can.

His dad stirs at the movement. Nick can’t see his face, but it’s clear from his dad’s slightly slurred and groggy speech that he's only half-awake.

“Oh, hey…” His dad chuckles a little when he realises what’s going on. “Merry Christmas, Nick.” He mummers, hand finding a solid resting place on Nick’s arm.

Nick smiles, slightly squished against his chest. The room was warm already but it feels even warmer now. He’s positive that he’s never felt more peaceful, more safe.

“Merry Christmas, Dad.”

* * *

He gets a text from his aunt the morning after Christmas that just says, ‘Is it safe?’

Somehow, Nick understands what she means instinctively and texts back, ‘no vegans in sight’

An hour and a half later, Del arrives, Nick unsure of exactly how invited she actually is. He figures his dad decided not to care about her lack of communication once he saw the amount of food she’d brought with her. 

While putting out the food in question, she sets out a plate of jiaozi near Nick. “Since you seemed to like them so much.”

He takes a look at the dumplings, and finds that their pleating is a little more elaborate than the last time he saw them. “They look different.”

She shrugs. “I steamed them, holds the shape better. Means you’re able to put more effort into making them look pretty.” After a moment, she adds, “Zheng jiao. That’s what the steamed ones are called.”

When she turns away, Nick mouths the word to himself a few times to commit it to memory. Sick. Maybe he should sign himself up for a couple of Chinese lessons.

Del only spends the day at their place, but the food is good and she ends up getting into a fight with Glenn over how illogical parents who don’t believe in Santa are in Christmas movies, which only Nick finds funny.

“It doesn’t make sense though. If the parents don’t believe in Santa, who do they think is putting presents under their tree? Is every single couple in this universe so bad at communication that they all assume their partner is buying the gifts themselves without input? Do single parents regularly get present buying amnesia? What do they think happens?”

“That’s not the point.”

“There doesn’t seem to be much of a point at all.”

His dad looks exasperated. “It’s one of those things you need a fucking… suspension of disbelief for, y’know?”

“There’s suspension of disbelief and then there’s bullshit.”

“It’s expected of the genre, Del. It’s to make the disbelievers seem ridiculous.”

“It’s a plot hole.”

“No, it’s not! It’s like, that shitty movie you loved when we were kids where the backgrounds were all painted? Is it a plot hole that they chose to use fake ass backgrounds that don’t make sense?”

“That’s not plot.” Del points out.

“Well, is it a failure of the design company that they made that choice actively?”

“Technically it was more of a commercial decision than anything.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

“Even if it was intentional, the twisted scenery helps serve as a metaphor for the film.”

His dad gestures frantically at the tv. “This is a metaphor too!”

“That’s not what a metaphor is.”

It’s weird enough having his dad home every Christmas, but having two people in the house just a day later steps it up a level. Nick kinda likes it though.

* * *

They get invited to the big holiday party the Oak-Garcias hold every year. It’s the first time Nick decides to join him. It’s not a Christmas party, but Henry lets him know that he can bust out some song covers later into the evening if he wants to. Glenn isn’t exactly sure if that was an allowance or a request, but he brings his guitar nonetheless and leaves it in one of the rooms upstairs to keep it safe until later.

Ron shows him pictures of cats for the first half and hour or so, and after that, Glenn tries to explain to Darryl his plan for stealing the British Crown Jewels should he ever need to. Darryl looks mostly confused, but he’s not interrupting, which Glenn takes as permission to not shut up.

Further into the night, he drags Henry off the side of an empty room to enact his master plan that he’s sure is genius because he took it from every romantic Christmas movie ever.

Henry spots the mistletoe hanging over their heads pretty quickly and then looks to Glenn a long moment, before laughing.

Glenn looks up like Henry had and feigns surprise. “Woah... Mistletoe right here? What a wack ass coincidence, huh?”

“That is weird, Glenn. Especially because I pretty distinctly remember not putting it there.”

“Well, Mercedes is full of surprises, I guess.”

Henry continues smiling. “I guess so.”

Glenn falters a moment as his plan falls to pieces around him. He grabs the first thing he can think of. “Did you know ancient druid dudes thought mistletoe could predict the future?”

Henry laughs again and touches his head to Glenn’s shoulder as he bends over with it. He straightens up eventually, eyes shining like stars. “Is this your idea of flirting, Glenn?”

Glenn hesitates to answer. “Is it working?”

“Oh, definitely.”

The kiss is softer than before. They both want to get back to the party, so it’s more of a gentle peck than anything. Still, it’s gentle and it’s warm, and the two of them start laughing about halfway through it. Henry rests his forehead against Glenn, fingers tangling slightly in his long hair.

“Sorry,” Glenn says, “You were just no match for the Master of Romance.”

Henry laughs hard again. “Oh, gosh dang it, Glenn. This is really an abuse of power, you know?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so problematic.”

“You really need to check your pretty privilege more often.”

“I’ll try not to be so cool and charming next time.” Glenn replies.

“Thank you, Glenn, the effort is much appreciated. Maybe the rest of us will stand a chance then.”

  
  


It’s later into the evening and most of the guests have drifted off. Darryl’s still here, but Carol and Grant bounced about an hour ago. Ron and Samantha are on the other couch, holding hands like a pair of high school lovers. Terry’s off with Nick and the twins somewhere else in the house. Henry’s babbling something rock-related to him, and honestly? He completely lost track of the specifics of it about ten minutes ago, but Henry’s clearly excited to talk about it so he can pretend to understand a little while longer.

Mercedes had gone upstairs to check on the kids, but returns with Glenn’s guitar.

Darryl is happy to join him in a few Christmas classics, but when Ron decides to start singing, Glenn is content to let him take centre stage and just play his accompaniment. He’s pretty focused on Ron for a while, really gets into the musical zone, but then he senses a pair of eyes on him. He scans the room and finds that Henry’s the guilty culprit. He’s not quite staring at Glenn, but rather, is carefully watching his hands as he plays. 

It’s a pretty funny position, Glenn thinks. Henry looking at him playing and Glenn looking at Henry looking at him playing. Like a weird circle of dumb staring. 

Henry seems to catch on eventually, looking up and catching Glenn’s gaze. He turns a little red and offers a lopsided smile. He’s pretty sure this is really some secret Henry flirting thing to get back at him for his fucking masterfully executed plan earlier, but Glenn sees right through it. He decides to throw off Henry’s game by giving him a wink. All that manages to do is make Henry smile brighter and turn his attention back to Ron.

Hell yeah, Glenn definitely won that round.

He tries to look back to Ron, but Darryl staring at him demands his attention instead. A whole damn staring festival out here tonight… Was that a new Christmas tradition or what?

Darryl makes sure Glenn is paying full attention before pointing between him and Henry and giving a questioning look.

All Glenn can do in response is shrug as much as holding a guitar would allow. Hell if he knows the answer to that, bud.

* * *

The twins challenge TJ to another game in their long running Ninja competition. Nick doesn’t know why he says yes — man loses every time and ends the game nothing but bruised to high fucking hell. Nick, at the very least, is smart enough to know to stay out of it. He’s prepared to sit back and be a bystander to what is essentially a game of ‘physical assault with rules’.

He lays back on Lark’s bed since it’s closer than any of the chairs in the room and looks around when watching the game begins to get boring. He pulls the curtain surrounding the bed a little to see the drawings there again, and freezes.

There’s new artwork there, barely noticeable. Where Lark’s drawing of his family sits, there’s two new figures doodled beside them lightly in pencil — like he’s trying to figure out whether they should be a permanent fixture of not.

Lark is, objectively, not the best drawer, but the doodles are pretty clear despite that. It’s him. Him and his dad, a semi-permanent part of the Oak-Garcia family.

And Nick doesn’t hate it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that’s all bitches 😎🤘 thanks for sticking through this entirely self-indulgent ooc short fic


End file.
